Apparatus for track-circuit control.



' N0- 875,843. PATENTED JAN. 7, 1908.

J. A. PBABODY.

APPARATUS FOR TRACK CIRCUIT CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

No. 875,843. PATENTED JAN. 7, 1908. J. A. PEABODY.

APPARATUS FOR TRACK CIRCUIT CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 25. 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

JAMES A. PEABODY, OF EVANSTON. ILLINOIS.

APPARATUS FOR TRACK-CIRCUIT CONTROL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 7, 1908 Application filed July 25,1907- Serial No. 385-508.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES A. PEABODY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for .Track- Circuit Control, of which the following is a specification. I

My invention relates to a paratus for track circuit control and the ob ect 'of the invention is to provide means whereby current from a battery may be transmitted to a dis tance greater than it otherwise could be for signaling.

It will be understood that it is common to employ the tracks of steamrailways for transmitting electric currents to a relay sta tion for controlling signals. In a system of the general type to which my present invention relates, the rails of any given section are energized at a point which I shall refer to as the charging station.

mains in clear{ position as long as the rails are sufficiently energized to operate the relay, but as soon as the rails are short-circuited by means .of the wheels or axles of a train, the apparatus at the relay or controlled circuit becomes deenergized and the controlled circuit is broken. This usually allows the signal to go to danger or caution osition; There isordinarily great leakage om the rails of a railway, and consequently currents in them are readily dissipated. Moreover, for variousreasons, among them considerations of economy and safety, it is usual to employ Weak currents of low voltage in track signal work. i

My invention seeks to take advantage of the fact that alternating currents may be transmitted a greater distance than direct currents of the same voltage, and seeks to provide means for rendering a battery current available for this purpose I accom lish my object in the manner illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view, partially diagrammatic, showing a section of rail-way track and indicating the position of the charging station. Fig. 2 ispartly a perspective and artly a diagrammatic view of the preferred orm of apparatus for furnishing current to the track.

Similar reference characters denote like parts throughout the several views.

Usually in such a system the signal at the relay statlon re electro-motor i.

sections.

Various types and kinds of apparatus may that when arm f is held in active osition, as

shown in Fig. '1, in contact with t e conductor e, the controlled circuit will be complete and the signal a will be in clear osition, but when switch ar nf dro s to o position the controlled circuit Wlll be broken and the signal will go to caution position;

Various means may be employed for ma-k-'- ing and breaking the contro ed circuit, and for the purpose of illustration I have selected a relay having two conductors and h, connected to the opposite rails of t e track and two brushes, g andh', respectively, of an The arm f above mentioned, is carried by the shaft j of the motor and the parts are so arranged that when'the conductors g and h are sufliciently energized from the track the rotor of said motor will tend to hold the arm' f in on position as This signal shown, but when said conductors g and h be come denergized arm will dro to off position against the limiting stop In the atter position the controlled circuit will be broken.

I do not wish to be understood as confining myself to any particular form of relay apparatus as various types may be 'emplo ed,

'and my purpose in specifically descri ing the apparatus indicated is merely to illustrate the adapted.

In track signal work the track 'is divided into sections, the rails'of one section being insulated. from the rails of the next section. By referrin to Fig. 1, it will be seen that the rails m an n of one section are insulated from the rail 0, p and g and 1' of the adjoining The. rails m and n which are connected to the conductors, g and h, res ecpurpose to which my invention is be described.

tively, are connected at the other end 0 the.

The battery 5 which is intended to furnish the current to the track is connected by means of the conductors 6 and 7 to the switch arms 8 and 9 respectively. Said arms are pivotally supported upon the stationary,

position it engages the contact 15 which is connected to conductor t by conductor 16. /Vhen said arm'9 is. in the other position it engages the contact 17 which is connected by the conductor 18 to the conductor 8. It is clear that when the arms 8 and 9 are adj acent to contacts 11 and 15 as shown in Fig. 1, current-will flow from battery 5 to the tracks m and a through the conductors s and t in one direction and when said arms are adjacent to the contacts 13 and 17 current will flow from said battery to the rails through the conductors s and t in the opposite direction. The simultaneous movement of the arms 8 and 9 therefore, from one set of contacts to the other, reverses the direction of flow of current from the battery 5 to the rails. I will now describe the preferred means for operating the switch arms 8 and 9 to thus reverse the current supplied to the rails.

The switch arm 19 which is insulated from the other arms and by preference is also pivoted to the shaft 10, is adapted to vibrate between the two stationary contacts 20 and 21. The contact 20 is connected by means of a conductor 22 to one coil 23 of an electro magnet and this in turn is connected through the conductor 25 to the other coil 24 of said electro magnet. The other end of coil 24 is connected to the battery 26 by means of the conductors 27 and 28. The contact 21 is connected to the coil 29 b'y the conductor 30 and to the coil 31 by the conductor 32. These coils 29 and 31 form a second electro magnet for cooperation with the first. The other end of coil 31 is connected to'the battery 26through the conductors 33 and 28.

The coils 23 and 24 lie upon one side of the switch arms 3, 9 and 19 and the coils 29 and 31 on the opposite side thereof. The armature bars 34 and 35 are secured to and suitably insulated from the switch arms 8, 9 and 19 and are located on op osit'e sides thereof, the armature 34 being adapted to ap roach the cores of the coils 29 and 31 and t e armature 3 5 being adapted to'appro ach the cores of the coils 23 and 24. The arms 8, 9 and 19 and the armatures 34 and 35 being all fastoned together, always move in unison. The

parts are so arranged that when the arm 19 is in engagement with the contact 20 circuit willbe completed through the battery 26 and coils 23 and 2.4, thus attracting the armature 35 and tending to draw the arm 19 away from contact 20 toward contact 21. As soon as arm 19 engages contact 21 circuit is completed through the battery 26 and coils 29 and 31, thus energizing said coils and tending to draw the arm 19 back into engagement with the contact 20. The result is, therefore, that as soon as the arm 19 engages one of its contacts it is immediately drawn towards the opposite one and consequently a vibrating motion is set up. This vibrating motion of the arm 19 produces a corresponding movement of the arms 8 and current through the battery 5.

It will thus be seen that by means of the apparatus shown in Fig. 2 the current flow from battery 5 to the rails m and n, is continuously reversed or alternated. The result is that the current from the battery is effective through a much greater length of track rail than it otherwise would be.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

Means for sup lying alternately current to a railway trac for track signalcontrol, said supplying means consisting of a battery, adapted to be electrically connected to the track, a pole changer for alternating the direction of flow of. current from said battery to the track, and a second battery and v1- brator operated thereby for operating said pole changer.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name in the presence of two witnesses.

JAMES A. PEABODY.

80 9 thereby causing a reversal in the flow of It is hereby certified that in Letters Patent No. 875,843, granted January 7, 1908, upon the application of James A. Peabody, of Evanston, Illinois, for an improvement in Apparatus for Track-Circuit Control, an error appears in the printed specification requiring correction, as follows: In line 92, page 2, the word alternately should read alternating; and that the said Letters Patent should be read with this correction therein that the same may conform to the record of the case in the Patent Oflice.

Signed and sealed this 28th day oi January, A. D., 1908. I

[SEAL] O. C. BILLINGS,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. 

